Behind the Closet Doors
by Borrowed Twenties
Summary: The closet poet he is, what truly goes through his scribbles? Imagine what they look behind those closet doors. And maybe, in the sheaf of papers, you would find something like this. AxA, JxT
1. Winter Spell

**Author's Note:** I've been wanting to write this for almost an eternity since **Eternity**, one of my old fics. Therefore, I have decided to do what I've wanted to do this poetry thing. I am quite aware that most are bored stiff by poetry. Anyway, this is a place where I can write what I've wanted to write for a long time, so yeah.

**About this Poem:** Archie would be six (I think) and this is going along the lines of **the Chronicles of Before**. Yeah. This is written in a rather simple and immature way, but that's because Archie is merely six.

**Disclaimer:** I own the poetry, but nothing of Class of the Titans. Sad, I know.

**Winter Spell**

Spell of cold winter  
Trapped in near-Death  
Said there was hope  
When they did not have

Spell of cold winter  
Hopeful within  
Said he would come back  
But he never did

Spell of cold winter  
Hopeless within  
Said she would hang on  
But Death got her beat

Spell of cold winter  
Darkened within  
He became orphaned  
When he was a kid.

* * *

In preparation, I have brought an umbrella. Why? To shield myself from any rotten tomatoes coming my way. Urgh. Hope it wasn't weird or anything. As I said before somewhere, rhyming is a bit more stunted for me. Haha. And as usual, reviews are always appreciated!


	2. Colours

**About this Poem:** The first time he sees the orphanage. A writing of his emotions that centres his thoughts about it. He is about seven.

**Colours**

Let loose the colours  
Paint the sky grey  
Drop the pastels,  
Feet stuck in clay

Unwilling to move,  
Daunting to talk,  
Nothing to prove,  
Not wanting to walk

Rain the colour of ice  
Like darkened tears of lies  
Stormy bright of flashing thunder  
Of yellow striking wonder

Cheery yellow-green building  
Of cracked walls and tiles  
Looking at those hard looks  
Of supposed smiles

Orphanage of yellow-green  
Of a happy, glorious scene  
Yet step inside a world of  
The bullies and hearty love.

* * *

**Author's Note:** I have used contradicting words here! Well, you're free to interpret it any way you like. You might see it as Archie loving the place, or hating it. There's no right or wrong answer when poetry is concerned, I guess. But if you would look beneath the cheerful tone and at the words... Anyway, the cynicism at the last stanza is hopefully obvious. I suppose I really love Archie as a dark, angsty kid, don't I?


	3. Closet

**About this Poem:** Picture this - Archie, eight, being bullied. He loves hiding in the closet because it's the only place where he can find a world where he can be alone. But even this little dream of hope is crushed when he no longer dares to seek its shelter.

**Closet**

In the world  
He has come to hate,  
In a time  
Where he has found  
Impossible to love,  
Seeking solace  
In the darkened closet  
Brings him to a place of his  
Fantasies

A world of his own  
Where everything goes wrong  
But tirelessly rights  
Itself again  
And where truth becomes  
Dim and almost non-existent

Because the harsh reality  
Out there,  
Glaring bright of sun rays  
Is no longer appealing to him  
And the ways of the  
World is something he would much  
Rather to live without

And when he finds it  
Too hard,  
He seeks solace in the darkness  
Until a day comes where,  
He is locked mercilessly inside,  
And even the slightest dream of hope  
Is crushed like a new seed  
Of life  
And no longer does he  
Hide in the closet,  
Writing his poems of -  
And in -  
Darkness.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Finally I have started my free verse. So long, rhyming! Ah well, I will use it sometimes, but not often. Rhyming doesn't bode well with me much. Hope this poem was okay.


	4. War

**About this Poem:** Running away from the orphanage might seem extreme, but at twelve, anything is possible when one is desperate. Archie doesn't know about his ancestry, but he's heard of Greek mythology.

**War**

The heel beckons  
To him.

The pain is stinging him,  
Like sharp swords digging into  
His flesh.

He hears the footsteps,  
Wild with fury  
The captors of the cruel age  
Rushing for the warrior

And this is the time  
He wishes he was Archilles,  
Or even a descendant,  
And that he had a brace of sorts.

He wants a shield,  
A strong mighty armour,  
Hades' cloak of invisibility -  
Anything that can save him from  
Going back to the prison of  
Orphans.


	5. Worlds

**Author's Note: **With thanks to all my reviewers! I shall shower virtual cookies for all of you to munch when you're reading this poem. I realised that my poems are getting shorter and shorter. Ah well, that's why I lengthened this one. If not, it would have been less than fifty words.

**About this Poem: **At the age of thirteen, Archie is being adopted into a new family. While he's been told that he is mighty privelleged, he knows this isn't so, and that when he leaves the painful orphanage, he's going to enter a new stage of hardship.

**Worlds**

With a step out to  
A new world,  
Where life would prove  
Different

Different in some ways  
But more similar than none

A stack of papers  
Leasing him to a new life  
With a new "family" of  
Unknown origins

An adoption,  
Taking him away from the dreaded  
Prison cage  
Like he's always wanted

But he's seen them,  
The parents  
Of without-a-care  
And people tell him  
He's so lucky

But he knows it's true  
How when he walks out of this  
Cruel world,  
He'd walk right into another.


	6. Dye

**Author's Note: **I wanted to write this in the Chronicles of Before, and I will. But this is too significant an event to _not_ write it in his poetry collection, so I decided I'd include this.

**About this Poem: **Fourteen. Hair dye. Purple. And that's all you need to know.

**Dye**

Goodbye to the brown,  
Away with the old.  
I didn't know what I'm  
Trying to prove.

They will be, likely,  
Aghast.  
They'll say,  
"Why did you do something like that?"  
And I would like them to.  
They would tell  
Me that I'm ruining their  
Reputation, something that they had  
Set out to _improve_.

But then that's too bad,  
Because I couldn't care less.  
I'm just their image,  
The golden adopted of their  
"Kindness"

I hesitate.

Then I pick out a colour,  
_Randomly_.

And I picked...

...Purple.


	7. Picked Up

**About this Poem: **Sixteen and living, Archie was literally transported into a world of New. And, perhaps, to him this new 'world' of his is something good, for once.

**Picked Up**

Picked up from the ground's bottom  
By the griffins of Hermes  
And dropped in a new world

I didn't know how to make of it,  
But I saw it as my freedom;  
My great escape  
If I could run away from the school  
And start anew

But I had no idea  
- Although I wanted to leave so much  
Because of my weaknesses,  
My hurting past -  
Forced to stick around and  
I found something so much more  
Valuable than freedom.

Maybe it's called  
Friendship but I don't know  
Because it's a  
Foreign word but somehow  
I like its sound.

I was picked up  
And dropped into New.

* * *

**Author's Note: **The word 'New' suggests both a _new_ beginning for him and also, _New_ Olympia. This is more like a cross between prose and poetry, but essentially I think it's upfront for once, which states how Archie is addressing his problems with more clearness and trying to leave it behind. He hasn't succeeded yet, but maybe he will someday...


	8. First Impressions

**About this Poem: **Still sixteen, these are his first impressions. Of course, first impressions aren't necessarily correct, as we know.

**Theresa**

Luck.  
That's what she has.

Born wealthy,  
With smouldering eyes of green,  
One that would ensnare the eyes of chocolate brown  
But certainly not _his_.

Blazing orange hair of  
A wild, rich girl  
Abound with fancy  
Designer jeans,  
The perfection beyond,  
The type of _Drama Queen  
_He so very detests.

The kind of girl  
Who has everything,  
While he holds  
Nothing,

And it isn't fair.

* * *

**Odie**

Those little gadgets  
He always fidgets with  
And I wonder why I'm not the one  
Born with such  
And sometimes I hate people so.

The brains of the operation,  
With slight similarities to I,  
For we have but  
Obvious weaknesses -  
His being physical,  
But mine being internal.

And he struggles,  
And actually, so do I.

* * *

**Jay**

Yellow-purple-striped  
Polo sweater  
And puffy blue jeans  
And my first thought is,  
"Doesn't he feel warm?"

He's simple  
But there's something about him  
That garners respect,

But not necessarily mine.

* * *

**Herry**

Affable, naive,  
Possibly gullible.  
With the strength of a lion -  
No, of _Hercules_,  
Mind travelling like a snail's  
Nothing comparable to me.

* * *

**Atlanta**

Short.

She is shorter than him.

But in all other aspects,  
One could draw parallels.

Both were horribly athletic,  
With striking purple or red hairdos,  
They were worthy opponents;  
And they had what anyone else would call  
Stubborness,  
But hey, he preferred to call it determination.

Here was where the similarities ended.

She was good,  
But he was _better_.

* * *

**Neil**

Blond model of sorts,  
He's a lucky charm,  
And that's all that there is to him.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Here's all the first impressions I could think of. Of course he would see his newfound friends differently before he got to know them. As usual I apologise for not updating any faster. Exams have gotten in the way again, although I think I should really study. When I first joined , I had exams going on but I didn't study as hard as I would have liked. That led to a less-than-desirable grade. Well, not really, but still I feel like I could have done better, so now I shall study like I'm supposed to.(: Rest assured I will try to update sometime soon.


	9. Wanted

**About this Poem: **They made him realise he was wanted. Period.

**Wanted**

The toy was on the shelf,  
Dusty, unwanted,

_Unloved_.

It was alone,  
Sleeping atop the highest  
Point,  
Longing to feel the warmth  
Of touch that someone,  
_Anyone_, could bring.

It gave up long ago  
Until one day  
The Hand picked it up from the shelf  
And he was wanted.

* * *

**Author's Note: **I didn't go explicitly about how he felt when he knew he was wanted. For one thing, Archie isn't cheesy and way too macho-ish to reveal how he feels. Obviously he's not the kind to bare his emotions, and if anyone were to find his poems, he would be just plain embarrassed. Yeah. And seeing how all his poems have been addressing him as the subject, I decided to take a more indirect approach for this one. Hope you liked it!


	10. I Wonder

**About this Poem:** Seeing his friends' sacrificial side, Archie has slowly matured to giving it his all. So what if he hadn't ever thought about risking his life for another - now he does, after realising how far his friends would go to protect one another - including _him_.

**I Wonder**

I've seen how Jay

Risked his life for Odie

And how they would sacrifice it all

For their friends.

And behind all this thought,

I wonder if they ever knew that

A month ago,

I wouldn't.

* * *

**Author's Note: **This is a poem of much simplicity and straightforward thought. I put spaces between each line for a new kind of feel - I guess a sort of detachment. Archie wouldn't have sacrificed himself a month ago, but seeing how precious these friends are, he's learnt to give and take. And I guess that is a sweet thing in its own right, since he probably used to think everyone was his enemy. The next couple of poems will be Atlanta-centric, I bet some of you A/A fanatics would be glad to hear.


	11. Friends

**About this Poem:** This will come in stages towards his progressing attraction to Atlanta. So here I present to you, the Friend stage.

**Friend**

I thought I'd hate you  
Just like all the others  
- But I didn't.

There was something about you  
That I could call a  
Friend.

I have no idea why,  
How,  
We managed to get here,  
Shoving, smiling, skateboarding  
But we have.

And I think I can admit  
That I actually...

_Like it._

* * *

I liked my darkness  
I stuck to it  
But you brought  
A torch to it.

Darkness gave me  
The freedom  
It showed me a way  
Out of reality

But you told me of  
Another way,  
You made me suddenly  
Want to enter reality  
Because you were in it.

I thought you brought in  
A torch,  
But only after a while,

I realised that  
The bright light was _you_.

* * *

The first time  
You truly yelled at me  
- With anger, no less -  
Was the first time  
I felt  
An unfamiliar feeling.

Was it called  
Hurt?

* * *

Let go.  
Smile.  
Slap high-fives.  
Play pranks -  
Together.

You taught me so much,  
And you didn't even know.

* * *

**Author's Note:** I apologise for the very long wait. Originally I wrote up two poems I was going to use, but I couldn't bring myself to it. Why? Simply because they were weird. Now, I am sorry if the poems above are weird, or not as good as the previous ones, but I did try the best I could do at this time ;D I think it's called writer's block, haha - the writer's block speaks again. Frankly, though, I find these genuinely cute, adorable in a sense. But I don't know, it's more of what you think - after all, you call the shots to the reviews.

Next stage: Crush! If you have any brilliant metaphors that you want me to use, go ahead and tell me please, and I'll try to make it work. Hah, I can already imagine Archie's depiction of crushes.


	12. Crush

**About this Poem: **Put Atlanta and crush into the equation, and what do you get? Archie's name, of course.

**My Song**

Where is the song,

The one I dreamt of in Morpheus'

Shadowy realms of fantasy?

Where is my song,

The lyrical melody that melds together

With anything but reality?

I hold you fast,

I embrace you tight

But I'll never hear that song;

Perhaps it is momentary,

Too many break notes in between

Is it just a crush?

But I've known all along

That your name is in my song.

* * *

**Red**

Red is when  
I see you, panting from a jog;  
Your hazel eyes a'twinkling,  
But n'ver searching mine.

Red is when  
I see you, hair flowing out long;  
Fiery locks of brazen bold,  
In silent, determined song.

Red is when  
You see me, I blush to the roots of my hair  
Beetroot stains my cheeks  
But perhaps you did not care.

Red is when  
You see me, blood streaming down my face  
You scream, you yell, you act concerned  
And leave me in a daze.

As cliche as it may be,  
I really think it's true,  
That when I say red means something,  
It means that I love you.

* * *

**Losing Control**

I am uncontrollable.  
No, my _heart_ is.  
Palpitating rigorously,  
Like a drum thudding at its loudest speakers.

Say yes,  
And I will lose myself.  
Say no,  
And I will regret it.

I lay my eyes on you,  
Body so invariably still -  
_Breathe_... am I still breathing?  
It is normalcy I fight to maintain  
But you skew all my thoughts.  
I throw my rationality to the rocks,  
And I take a run with you.

* * *

**Giving Life**

Wilted rose  
Made alive again,  
Through the beautiful, fiery blossoms  
That lies beside.

* * *

**Author's Note:** How is this? I hope this is an improvement from the earlier chapter! I tried hard for this, and now I have to return to the dreaded Chemistry and Math that awaits me. Blame it all on the algebraic factorisation which I am sure is easy peasy to more than 99% of the world. Hah.

Still, I would like to take this time to explain the 3rd poem. Although it may seem a run may seem entirely non-dangerous, but see, everytime he's with her, he risks more and more chances of his crush being discovered because, let's face it, he's just so **obvious**! Heehee. Alright, please review and there will be cyber cookies cooked by Athena.


	13. Love

**About these Poems: **What comes after the crush stage? Well, now isn't that an easy question... (: I don't even think we need any explanations for the most widely read part of COTT history, so let's continue on with the poems(:

* * *

**Love**

Love and crush:  
Worlds apart.  
I liked the way you smiled;  
Now I love the sincerity of your smile.  
I liked the way you could run;  
But now I love even your flaws.  
I liked your mind, your quick, sharp wit;  
And now I love more so your pure heart.

I _liked_ you once,  
But now all that remains is love.

* * *

**Unrequited**

Behind the facade of friendship,  
I've taken a big, whole leap.  
I've learnt to trust,  
I've learnt to love,  
I've learnt to love you.

You're in my every dreams,  
Though fantasy it only seems.  
I've learnt you trust,  
I've learnt you love,  
I've learnt you love only as a friend.

But still you haunt my every thought  
You're my meaning that I'd sought  
I've learnt that my love is unrequited  
But even so,  
No matter how I try to stop it,  
I'll still end up loving you anyway.

* * *

**Out of Bounds**

You're the only one who understands,  
Who hears my every fear,  
Though you do nothing but shine your smile  
You hear me, isn't that queer?

Yet my heart loves you  
And you treat me only as your friend  
What kindness does matter to this all,  
When no true love do you send?

But you can't love me  
I'm too imperfect  
So much so that you're out of bounds  
And though I try so hard to please,  
I don't want to hear Rejection's sound.

So as I'm reminded of the warmth you gave  
When I was deeply down  
I remind myself way to this day  
That you are out of bounds.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Finally I get to finish something! (: I hope that you liked this round of poems. If you guys want, I can write a second chapter on Love again, simply because they are quite few, I know. Sorry for the long updating time that I took!


End file.
